Kozmetika
Encyclopedia
Kozmetika were a Serbia
n New Wave
/art rock
band from Belgrade
, notable as one of the pioneers and promoters of New Wave music and culture in Yugoslavia through their youth magazine Izgled
.
album Diamond Dogs
, painter Vladimir Jovanović, director Marko Pešić, music editor of the RTV Studio B
television station Slobodan Konjović and Saša Nikolić, the owner of the first discotheque in Belgrade
at the Atelje 212
, formed the band Dijamantski Psi (Diamond Dogs) in 1974. However, the band career was interrupted at the very beginning by the incarceration of the band members due to marijuana possession.
Having been released from prison, in 1976, the band continued working, changing the name for a short period of time to Spajalice (The Staples
). The band was finally renamed to Kozmetika in 1978, named after a combination of the words Kosmička Etika (Cosmic
Ethics
), featuring Vladimir Jovanović (guitar
, vocals), Marko Pešić (synthesizer
), Slobodan Konjović (bass guitar
) and Miško Mihajlovski (rhythm machine). The following year, Jovanović got the award Sedam Sekretara SKOJ-a for his works as a painter. At the time, the band started preparing their debut album. Simultaneously, the band worked on publishing the youth magazine Izgled
, and it was on the magazine promotion, held at the Belgrade SKC
that the band had their first live performance.
Not having a continuous work on the album recording, the band had spent four years recording their debut self-titled album, working patiently on each track with numerous guest appearances. Kozmetika, released on March 7, 1983 by ZKP RTLJ
, featured Annoda Rouge members Goran Vejvoda
(guitar) and Dragana Šarić (vocals), Idoli members Srđan Šaper (vocals) and Nebojša Krstić
(vocals), YU grupa
member Raša Đelmaš (drums
), Vuk Vujačić (saxophone
), Gordi
frontman Zlatko Manojlović (guitar), Zoran Radetić (electric piano
), Bijelo Dugme
guitarist Goran Bregović
(guitar), Đorđe Ilijin (flute
) and Bora Pavićević (percussion). Inspired by the works of Brian Eno
as well as the current musical trends, the band used a technique in album production similar to the one which would later be known as sampling
, creating their own vision of art rock
. However, due to being uncommunicative, the album failed to reach much feedback from the audience. Even though after the album release the band often performed live, Kozmetika disbanded.
(The Boys) with Predrag "Peđa" Jovanović, until 1985 when D' Bojs disbanded. Continuing as Miško D' Bojs he collaborated with Bebi Dol.
Slobodan Konjović, often referred to as the Serbian John Peel
, worked as a producer while being a Kozmetika member, producing almost all the releases by Pekinška Patka
, including both of their studio albums, Plitka poezija
and Strah od monotonije
, as well as the Električni Orgazam
live EP
Warszawa '81
. In 2006, he appeared as guest vocalist and composer on the Vasko Serafimov
2006 studio album Here. Vladimir Jovanović moved to Netherlands
where he currently resides.
SKC is arguably taken as the beginning of New Wave music
in Serbia
. Their debut and only album Kozmetika was polled in 1998 as the 98th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav popular music albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike
(YU 100: The Best albums of Yugoslav pop and rock music).
In 2006 the song "Utisci" ("Impressions"), featuring Idoli member Nebojša Krstić
on lead vocals, was ranked #99 the B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs List. The song has also been used as the theme song
for the Olja Bećković
political talk show
Utisak nedelje broadcast on RTV Studio B
and B92
. For the 20th anniversary of the talk show the Viva Vox Choir from Belgrade covered "Utisci" and the version has become the new theme song for the show.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
/art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, notable as one of the pioneers and promoters of New Wave music and culture in Yugoslavia through their youth magazine Izgled
Izgled
Izgled was a pop-culture magazine published in Belgrade, Serbia during the 1980s. Only five issues were published.- History :The magazine was published by Belgrade's SKC ....
.
History
Influenced by the David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
album Diamond Dogs
Diamond Dogs
Diamond Dogs is a concept album by David Bowie, originally released by RCA Records in 1974. Thematically it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world...
, painter Vladimir Jovanović, director Marko Pešić, music editor of the RTV Studio B
RTV Studio B
RTV Studio B, more often called Studio B , is a radio and television broadcaster in Belgrade, Serbia, which was the first broadcast station outside the national electronic media system.-Background:...
television station Slobodan Konjović and Saša Nikolić, the owner of the first discotheque in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
at the Atelje 212
Atelje 212
Atelje 212 is a theatre in Belgrade, Serbia. It was officially founded on 12 November 1956 in the premises of the Borba building, in front of 212 chairs. The opening play was Faust, directed by Mira Trailović....
, formed the band Dijamantski Psi (Diamond Dogs) in 1974. However, the band career was interrupted at the very beginning by the incarceration of the band members due to marijuana possession.
Having been released from prison, in 1976, the band continued working, changing the name for a short period of time to Spajalice (The Staples
Staple (fastener)
A staple is a type of two-pronged fastener, usually metal, used for joining or binding materials together. Large staples might be used with a hammer or staple gun for masonry, roofing, corrugated boxes and other heavy-duty uses...
). The band was finally renamed to Kozmetika in 1978, named after a combination of the words Kosmička Etika (Cosmic
COSMIC
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate is a program designed to provide advances in meteorology, ionospheric research, climatology, and space weather by using GPS satellites in conjunction with low Earth orbiting satellites...
Ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
), featuring Vladimir Jovanović (guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, vocals), Marko Pešić (synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
), Slobodan Konjović (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
) and Miško Mihajlovski (rhythm machine). The following year, Jovanović got the award Sedam Sekretara SKOJ-a for his works as a painter. At the time, the band started preparing their debut album. Simultaneously, the band worked on publishing the youth magazine Izgled
Izgled
Izgled was a pop-culture magazine published in Belgrade, Serbia during the 1980s. Only five issues were published.- History :The magazine was published by Belgrade's SKC ....
, and it was on the magazine promotion, held at the Belgrade SKC
Studentski kulturni centar
Studentski Kulturni Centar , abbreviated as "SKC", is a cultural centre in Belgrade, Serbia.The center opened in 1971 in the building that had up to that point been used by state security agency UDBA. The opening of SKC was seen by many as the communist regime's concession to the youth of Belgrade...
that the band had their first live performance.
Not having a continuous work on the album recording, the band had spent four years recording their debut self-titled album, working patiently on each track with numerous guest appearances. Kozmetika, released on March 7, 1983 by ZKP RTLJ
ZKP RTLJ
Založba kaset in plošč RTV Ljubljana or Založba kaset in plošč Radiotelevizije Ljubljana , was a major record label based in Ljubljana, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, during the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
, featured Annoda Rouge members Goran Vejvoda
Goran Vejvoda
Goran Vejvoda is an English-born, French-based, media artist ....
(guitar) and Dragana Šarić (vocals), Idoli members Srđan Šaper (vocals) and Nebojša Krstić
Nebojša Krstic
Nebojša Krstić is an Advisor of the President of Serbia for public relations appointed by Boris Tadić. He was also a member of the Serbian rock band Idoli.- Biography :...
(vocals), YU grupa
YU grupa
YU grupa is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. One of the pioneers in combining rock music with the elements of the traditional music of the Balkans, YU grupa is considered the longest-lasting rock band to come from Serbia....
member Raša Đelmaš (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
), Vuk Vujačić (saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
), Gordi
Gordi
Gordi were a former Yugoslav heavy metal band from Belgrade. Although only their last two studio albums, Pakleni trio and Kraljica smrti, were truly heavy metal oriented, these are the albums for which Gordi are generally most remembered.-Band history:The band was formed in November 1977 by former...
frontman Zlatko Manojlović (guitar), Zoran Radetić (electric piano
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
), Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
guitarist Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
(guitar), Đorđe Ilijin (flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
) and Bora Pavićević (percussion). Inspired by the works of Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
as well as the current musical trends, the band used a technique in album production similar to the one which would later be known as sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, creating their own vision of art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
. However, due to being uncommunicative, the album failed to reach much feedback from the audience. Even though after the album release the band often performed live, Kozmetika disbanded.
Post-breakup
After the Kozmetika disbandment, the only member to continue his musical career was Miroslav "Miško" Mihajlovski, forming the band D' BoysD' Boys
-1982 - 1985:The band was formed in 1982, consisting of two musicians: Peđa D'Boy and Miško Mihajlovski, who reportedly "played the drum machine" and percussion...
(The Boys) with Predrag "Peđa" Jovanović, until 1985 when D' Bojs disbanded. Continuing as Miško D' Bojs he collaborated with Bebi Dol.
Slobodan Konjović, often referred to as the Serbian John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, worked as a producer while being a Kozmetika member, producing almost all the releases by Pekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka
Pekinška Patka is an eminent Serbian and former Yugoslav punk rock band from Novi Sad. Their debut album, Plitka poezija, released in 1980, is considered the first punk rock album by a band coming from Serbia...
, including both of their studio albums, Plitka poezija
Plitka poezija
- The band :* Boris Oslovčan "Bora" — bass, backing vocals* Laslo Pihler "Laci" — drums, backing vocals* Sreten Kovačević "Srele" — guitar, backing vocals* Nebojša Čonkić "Čonta" — vocals- Additional personnel :* Marko Pešić — photography...
and Strah od monotonije
Strah od monotonije
- Personnel :* Mare — Marinko Vukmanović; bass, voice [hypnotic voices], backing vocals* Cila — Laslo Pihler; drums* Bale — Zoran Bulatović; guitar, keyboards, backing vocals* Čonta — Nebojša Čonkić; vocals, performer [Čontajzer]- References :*...
, as well as the Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
live EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Warszawa '81
Warszawa '81
Warszawa '81 is an EP by the Serbian New Wave band Električni Orgazam. The EP was recorded live during the three dates tour in Warsaw, Poland. The cover, designed by Srđan Gojković Gile featured the Polish language version of the band's name, Elektryczny Orgazm...
. In 2006, he appeared as guest vocalist and composer on the Vasko Serafimov
Vasko Serafimov
Vasko Serafimov is a Macedonian electronic music composer.Born 28.08.1966 in Skopje. First contact with music in his very early childhood, listening to his older brother's Venko musical influences.Vasko is in the moment releasing his fourth solo album...
2006 studio album Here. Vladimir Jovanović moved to Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
where he currently resides.
Legacy
The band's live appearance on April 6 1977 at the BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
SKC is arguably taken as the beginning of New Wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. Their debut and only album Kozmetika was polled in 1998 as the 98th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav popular music albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike
YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike
YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike is a book by Duško Antonić and Danilo Štrbac...
(YU 100: The Best albums of Yugoslav pop and rock music).
In 2006 the song "Utisci" ("Impressions"), featuring Idoli member Nebojša Krstić
Nebojša Krstic
Nebojša Krstić is an Advisor of the President of Serbia for public relations appointed by Boris Tadić. He was also a member of the Serbian rock band Idoli.- Biography :...
on lead vocals, was ranked #99 the B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs List. The song has also been used as the theme song
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for the Olja Bećković
Olja Beckovic
Olivera "Olja" Bećković is a Serbian journalist and TV host.She hosts political talk show Utisak nedelje .-Career:...
political talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
Utisak nedelje broadcast on RTV Studio B
RTV Studio B
RTV Studio B, more often called Studio B , is a radio and television broadcaster in Belgrade, Serbia, which was the first broadcast station outside the national electronic media system.-Background:...
and B92
B92
B92 is a radio and television broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia. The network's key demographic is chiefly urban and young audience. Its programs, including the news cover topics with fairly liberal political painted attitudes...
. For the 20th anniversary of the talk show the Viva Vox Choir from Belgrade covered "Utisci" and the version has become the new theme song for the show.
External links
- Kozmetika at YoutubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Kozmetika at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Kozmetika at Rateyourmusic
- Kozmetika at Last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
- Kozmetika at B92.fm